Detective: Franconia doctor dispensed drugs to create drug addicts'

NORRISTOWN — A Franconia doctor’s alleged practice of overprescribing powerful narcotics to addicted patients was as dangerous as a street corner dealer selling drugs to kids, according to a Montgomery County detective.

“One may wear a suit and one may not, but they are doing the same thing, selling drugs to create drug addicts,” county Detective Lt. Stephen Forzato, a seasoned narcotics investigator, testified as the trial of Dr. Richard Ruth, who is accused of running a pill mill, resumed Thursday.

“He defended what he was doing. He did not appear to be concerned about their addiction in any way at all,” Forzato testified during the trial before Judge Gary S. Silow.

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Forzato, testifying for First Assistant District Attorney Kevin R. Steele, said an investigation of Ruth began in September 2010 when Telford police and other law enforcement agencies were concerned that numerous young people in the Indian Valley and Upper Perkiomen areas were engaged in crimes related to their use and delivery of oxycodone and other powerful prescription narcotics that were traced to Ruth’s office.

“He put all the blame on what was going on in the North Penn area and in his office on the people who were addicted,” said Forzato, recalling Ruth stated, “I blame the addicts for doing this. It’s not my fault.”

When defense lawyer Gregory R. Noonan, during cross-examination of Forzato, implied Ruth should not be characterized as a street corner drug dealer, Forzato responded, “He’s the drug dealer without an addiction. His office is on a corner, Cherry and Washington. Just because he’s doing it indoors doesn’t mean he’s not a drug dealer.”

But Ruth, 78, of the 300 block of Godshall Road, denied being a drug dealing physician.

“Do you consider yourself to be a pill pusher, doctor?” defense lawyer John Walfish asked Ruth, after the slight statured doctor of osteopathic medicine stepped into the witness box late Thursday.

Forzato testified that at the time of Ruth’s arrest the doctor professed he prescribed painkillers to patients, most of who were between 20 and 30 years old, so they could “get to work, pay taxes, and get off of welfare rolls, which costs us all money.”

But when Forzato confronted Ruth with a copy of the state law that prohibits dispensing narcotics to drug dependent people, Ruth allegedly responded, “Well, I did not conform to that law,” according to testimony.

Ruth faces numerous charges of corrupt organizations, prescription fraud, prescribing in bad faith, prescribing to a drug dependent person, identity theft and dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities in connection with alleged incidents that occurred between 2010 and 2011.

Ruth’s son, Michael David Ruth, 46, of East Rockhill, Bucks County, also faces charges of conspiracy and corrupt organizations for allegedly assisting his father in the scheme while working as the office manager at his father’s practice.

Michael Ruth testified he did not see patients coming to the office “high.”

“Not that I recollect. I didn’t see anyone coming in stumbling, drunk or high,” Michael Ruth testified for defense lawyer Vincent A. Cirillo Jr. “They would be coherent. They would talk. They were hurt and in pain.”

About a dozen patients testified for prosecutors that they became addicted to painkillers like oxycodone that Richard Ruth repeatedly prescribed. But defense lawyers relied on seven former patients who testified Ruth was a well-liked family doctor who helped heal their ailments like back and neck pain through spinal manipulation and medication and kept them working without them ever becoming addicted to any medications he prescribed.

“My concerns were actually getting to work. I had to pay the bills. The doctor kept me going,” said Anthony Wagner, a 57-year-old mechanic from Zionsville who sought Ruth’s help for back pain. “The man turned around and saved me numerous times. The man’s a saint.”

Prosecutors have shown documentation that indicated one of Ruth’s younger patients was prescribed 39,180 oxycodone pills over the course of 540 days. Testimony also revealed that despite receiving phone calls from people alerting Ruth that some patients were selling pills they received or had their pills seized by authorities, Ruth continued to give those patients prescriptions for more pills.

Numerous patients, testimony revealed, received so-called “rewrites” of prescriptions from Ruth over and over again supposedly by simply claiming their prescriptions were lost or stolen. Prosecutors alleged Ruth was just giving them additional pills, no questions asked.

Michael Ruth claimed he and his father believed the patients’ excuses.

“That’s the tragedy. We didn’t have our head in the sand, we just had a patient population that was coming in and lying to us a lot and we believed them,” Michael Ruth testified.

In addition to the investigation by local authorities, officials of the Pennsylvania Department of State received complaints from pharmacists about an increasing number of prescriptions issued by Richard Ruth. According to authorities, between May 2010 and April 2011, the doctor wrote 1,799 oxycodone prescriptions.

Follow Carl Hessler Jr. on Twitter @MontcoCourtNews

About the Author

Carl Hessler Jr. writes about crime and justice at the Montgomery County Courthouse for The Mercury and 21st Century Media Newspaper’s Greater Philadelphia area publications. A native of Reading, he studied at Penn State University and Kutztown University before graduating from Alvernia University with a degree in communications. He is a recipient of a National Headliner Award and has been honored for his writing by the Keystone Press Association, Philadelphia Press Association, Society of Professional Journalists and the Associated Press Managing Editors of Pennsylvania. Reach the author at chessler@pottsmerc.com
or follow Carl on Twitter: @MontcoCourtNews.